Where were you in the Great Diaryland Lacuna of ought-five (trademark pending)?

I spent most of Friday being frustrated in all kinds of ways about my work, the fact that the university library server was either down or wouldn�t let me in, about diaryland, Consequently, Saturday was all about conflict avoidance. I spent the morning with AJ at our neighborhood�s annual Easter party. This event was organized by an inordinately perky mom with a megaphone (even though she probably didn�t need it). In fairness, she did a great job and the food spread was truly impressive � I am reminded of the �groaning� boards of Fezziwig�s table in Dickens� A Christmas Carol, except it was pretty much all dessert. There were baby animals to play with, crafts to do, and a non-violent egg-hunt (a vast improvement over the bloodbaths of my youth) and a very scary-looking but well-meaning Easter bunny. Still, by the end of the morning I was ready to try to slip some valium in the organizer�s coffee.

Our first activity was decorating an egg-shaped cookie. AJ put on half a jar of frosting, covered it with as much colored sugar as it would hold, licked it all off and started over:

After we had made a mess, the Easter bunny arrived and led us to an egg hunt by forcing us all to do the bunny hop. Some of us were more enthusiastic about it than others:

AJ did valiantly in the egg hunt all by himself (thus sparing me from having my ass in someone else�s family photo. Hi, neighbor!):

We celebrated his spoils (a treasure trove of chocolate eggs) by taking a cheesy photo with the scary bunny:

After AJ ran off his sugar high and went into a coma, I left to pick up a new hard drive at the App1e store and meet my friend H. and her mom for sushi and shopping at the Eileen Fisher outlet � an annual tradition for the three of us. A good time was had by all and I now have a soft fuzzy blue spring jacket as well well as a black knit jacket that makes me feel like Emma Peel.

Today has been somewhat more productive. Despite the cold weather, I was determined to put in a little time in the garden. It is the first day of spring, after all. AJ and I went out primrose spotting. We found lots of daffodil sprouts but only two primroses. There is not a crocus in sight and the Lenten rose has barely started to show buds. We are at least two weeks behind last year�s blooming. In order to make up for it, I cut armloads of branches off the forsythia we affectionately refer to as the Hairy Behemoth, due to its great size, unruly nature and its tendency to appear monster-like in the corner of the garden. Every large, cylindrical container in the house has been filled with warm water in hopes of forcing cheerful yellow blossoms out of their recalcitrant branches. If it can�t be spring outside, it will at least be spring indoors.

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